


The Other Side

by Faye_Claudia



Series: Where the Runaways are Running the Night [4]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Family Drama, Friendship, Inspired by The Greatest Showman (2017), Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 04:03:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16590509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faye_Claudia/pseuds/Faye_Claudia
Summary: "Stay in the cage, or you'll finally take the key, Oh, damn! Suddenly you're free to fly, It'll take you to the other side"





	The Other Side

This was Snotlout Jorgenson’s chance to prove himself. This was how he was going to prove to his father and his Uncle Stoik – the chief – that he was worthy of being the next chief of Berk. He stood proudly at the bow of his ship, squinting at the harsh glare of the sunlight on the water. He would soon show all of Berk just how worthy he was.

 

“Hey, Snotman, you could come and help us out, y’know!” One of the twins called out.  
“Yeah, since it’s your fault that we’re stuck on this dumb mission anyway!” The other twin chimed in. Snotlout turned to face the two blonds, his brows pushing together and his nose scrunching up in anger and frustration.

 

“I’m your next chief. I don’t work…I supervise.”

 

“Chief Stoik works too, you know,” Skaga grunted as she struggled with the heavy oar she was manning. Skaga was…a surprise. She wasn’t ever supposed to leave the island, as the tiny, pale and scrawny daughter of Silent Sven, she’d been Gothi’s apprentice as village healer and had never even been considered for Dragon training – a bit like Hiccup, except she didn’t tend to screw up everything she touched. But…with Hiccup and Astrid gone, Snotlout had needed more team members for his mission. Not to mention now that now that she wasn’t around Gothi or her dad, Snotlout had ample opportunity to woo and romance her.

 

“Skaga’s right, Snotlout, we really should all be distributing equal amounts of work, even Chief Stoik – “

 

“Shut it, Fishface!” Snotlout snapped at the larger – and much gentler -  Viking. “Fine, hand me that oar!”

 

~*~

They reached the island that Stoik’s scouts had claimed was Hiccup’s hideout without issue. It was getting onto the island that proved a challenge. The vicious war criminal and traitor of Berk – the Dragon Master, had set tiny dragon minions on lookout that had alerted his soldiers to their presence. They’d had rocks catapulted at them, and their ship had sunk fast. The five Vikings had had to swim for shore, only to be met by two terrifying Dragon Riders, dressed in dragon scale armor and heavily armed with massive axes standing on the beach. The red-haired one was laughing so heartily and disturbingly that Snotlout actually got chills (chills!), but the other one, the smaller, more female one, lifted her deadly nadder spiked helmet and with wide, blue eyes, and asked “Snotlout?” disbelievingly.

 

“Hey…Astrid.” Snotlout was still on his knees in the sand – so were the twins - although Fishlegs and Skaga were standing. Well, Fishlegs was holding Skaga up -ugh, Fishface touching his girlfriend was so not cool. The red-haired one in the green gronkle armor – with the green gronkle standing behind him, mouth open and glowing with the promise of a face full of lava looming over the Vikings – stopped laughing very suddenly and lowered his twisted axe to point it at Snotlout’s face. “What are you doing here?”

 

~*~

“Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, you are under arrest for your crimes against Berk, the Hairy Hooligan Tribe and your father, our chief, Stoik The Vast.”

 

The five armored Dragon Riders blinked at him in silence.

 

“Astrid Hofferson, for your betrayal of Berk and the Hairy Hooligan Tribe and for your association with the war criminal known as The Dragon Master; you are also under arrest. Dagur the Deranged, for the murder of Oswald the agreeable and the betrayal against the Bezerker tribe, you will be held in the custody of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe until you face justice from your own people. Your association with The Dragon Master is also a damning crime.”

 

“That would probably be a lot more effective if you weren’t tied up on our turf.” Hiccup – The Dragon Master – his cousin -  offered with a smirk. He was missing a leg, in its place was a wicked-looking metal one, and he wasn’t the short, scrawny fifteen-year-old Snotlout remembered; instead he was taller than Snotlout, and while not quite as beefy as him, he still looked very intimidating in his Night Fury armor. He was also brandishing a sword that was actually on fire, so Snotlout could concede Hiccup’s point of not having been very effective in his arrest.

 

“Yeah, okay, I can admit that, but when I get out of here I’ll-“

 

“You’ll what? We sank your way off this island, your entire team is captured, not that it’s a very impressive one; I mean, you brought Skaga for Thor’s sake. She can’t even lift an axe!” Astrid taunted before offering a curt “No offence” to the girl tied up between Ruffnut and Fishlegs against the building that looked suspiciously like the Great Hall back home, only smaller.

 

“How was that not offensive?” Skaga shot back. “Snotlout’s right, when we get out of this we’ll haul you and your traitorous soldiers back to Berk to face justice for the attacks.”

 

“Yeah, we’ll hit you so hard you won’t know East from West!” Tuffnut jeered, only to have his sister respond; “You don’t know East from West, dumbass.”

 

“Yeah, well, neither will they when I’m through!”

 

The twins continued to bicker while the two Riders Snotlout didn’t know –the slim brunette with another wicked-looking axe strapped to her back, and a Sami guy with Face tattoos and a scowl that could probably turn people into stone – watched in amusement and abject confusion.

 

“Uh…look, mister Dragon Master, Hiccup, sir?” Fishlegs asked hesitantly. “What exactly are you going to do with us?”

 

Hiccup and Astrid shared a look before Astrid declared that there was no way in Helheim it would work. Whatever ‘it’ was.

~*~

“It” was apparently indoctrination. Brain washing. Tricking Snotlout and his team into joining Hiccup’s Dragon Cult.

 

“Do they really call me the Dragon Master?” Hiccup asked curiously as he lead Snotlout up towards a cliff at the edge of the forest. The others had all been paired off with other members of Hiccup’s soldiers to learn the “ways of the dragon riders”.

 

“Yeah, but not because you’re badass or anything.” Snotlout sulked. His hands were still tied together and Hiccup was pulling him along at a pace he was not comfortable with. Because his hands were tied. Not because he was out of shape or anything. If his hands weren’t tied his one legged evil cousin wouldn’t stand a chance. “They call you that because you discovered how to control dragons, and instead of using that to save Berk, you turned against us. You betrayed us.” Snotlout spat at the ground at his feet, and then promptly tripped over a loose pebble.

 

“I…look, I didn’t betray Berk. And I definitely can’t _control_ dragons. I left because I realized that no one would ever accept what I discovered. No one would ever accept Toothless.” At that, the massive Night Fury – that definitely had teeth – came tumbling through the overhead trees and landed at Hiccup’s side with an almost goofy expression of excitement. Hiccup had probably promised it that it could eat Snotlout.

 

The cliff Hiccup had been dragging him towards was only about ten feet away from them, and Hiccup had stopped tugging him, so he figured they were where Hiccup had been taking him.

 

“No one would accept your Night Fury minion, like that’s unreasonable.” Snotlout snorted. “I should kill it now, bring its head back to Berk as a trophy!”

 

“Exactly my point!” Hiccup threw his arm forward towards Snotlout. “You’re so focused on killing dragons, that you’re not seeing what’s right in front of you. Toothless isn’t my minion, he’s my best friend.” Snotlout examined the way the dragon had curled itself around Hiccup, and how it’s weirdly expressive face didn’t look particularly minion-y. It looked well – it looked at Hiccup with something like adoration. Gross.

 

“That’s… worse than controlling dragons. You’re actually crazy.”

 

~*~

Heather eyed the chubby blond Viking she’d been assigned to. He kept muttering statistics about the dragons as he passed by them (deadly nadder: attack 10, speed 8; shot limit 6, night terror: stoker class, attack 6, firepower 10), even while he shuffled forward as Heather tugged the rope that tied his hands together. He was fascinated by dragons, even if he’d been raised to kill them. Heather could work with this. Her plan was simple, show him Windshear, let him see how awesome she was, and he’d _probably_ change his mind about dragons. Maybe. Fishlegs yelped as a terrible terror scuttled between his feet. Had she been that afraid of dragons before she’d met Hiccup two years ago? Maybe Hiccup was right, people did deserve to see how great dragons were.

 

“So, Fishlegs, right?” Heather started. She’d taken Fishlegs to their not-so-great hall, and she could already feel Windshear slinking between her legs – Hiccup theorized that she’d be big enough to ride in less than six months. “I hear you like books,” she handed over Hiccup’s personal version of The Book of Dragons. “This is everything we know about dragons; starting from the moment Hiccup found and befriended Toothless the Night Fury.”

 

“You’re one of the bad guys,” he protested, “I shouldn’t – you have information about Night Furies?” His expression twisted from hesitant to eager and hopeful, his mouth slightly open in an almost smile; his eyes wide open and his eyebrows raised high on his forehead, almost disappearing under his helmet. Something tugged at Heather’s gut – she wanted Fishlegs to be one of them. She’d never wanted anything more in her life.

 

“We have information about a lot of dragons,” she said, suddenly coy, “including razorwhips.” Windshear, brilliant as she was, took her cue and climbed out from under the table, twining herself around Heather’s body in a dragon-hug. If Heather had thought that Fishlegs was stunning before, the look of wonder on her enemy’s face was absolutely beautiful. “I don’t really think you want to kill dragons. I think you just want to learn. Dragons fascinate you, I can tell, and we have all the information you could ever want, and when you run out, well, Hiccup’s always looking for new things to learn about dragons. Maybe you could study with him…one day.”

~*~

Snotlout was sulking, and Hiccup knew that his cousin was unlikely to stop pouting any time soon; not after the amount of times he’d been singed Sharpshot and Toothless. Sighing loudly, he sat down next him and started speaking. 

 

“You know, just because you’re the next chief, doesn’t mean you have to be invincible.” 

 

“Yeah, and what would the great Dragon Master know about that?” 

 

“Well, I know that your dad is pretty hard on you if he’s anything like he was when we were kids, and I know that my dad’s pretty overbearing and that it’s hard to live up to his expectations.” 

 

“Is that why you ran away?” 

 

“Not...exactly. I ran away because I knew that I could never become what he wanted me to be. I couldn’t kill a dragon. So I...I don’t know, I acted like one. Dagur always says I have the heart of a Dragon.” 

 

“Stoick says I have the mind of a chief, I just need to use it.” Snotlout admitted. “He resents me though, for not being you. And he blames Gober for not realizing what was going on during dragon training.” 

 

“I – look, Snotlout, I’m trying to teach you about dragons because I want you to understand, I’m not the bad guy. I can’t control dragons, but I can train some of them. I’m not the one ordering the raids, that’s the dragon queen who controls the nest near Berk.”

 

“You know where the nest is, you could put a stop to it, but you haven’t! You are the bad guy!” Snotlout jumped up.

 

“No!” Hiccup protested, standing to tower over his cousin. If you’d seen the size of the queen, you wouldn’t be saying that, if you had- “

 

“You’ve seen the nest! You’ve been there. You’re nothing but a no-good traitor who’s-ooof!” Toothless landed heavily, pinning Snotlout to the ground, just as the monstrous nightmare that Hiccup and Astrid had released from Berk so many years ago swooped overhead, a line of fire aimed straight at Snotlout had been. Luckily, curled in to a ball underneath Toothless’ belly, he was safe.

 

Hiccup did his best to calm the nightmare when he landed, still aflame, spitting fire and growling menacingly. He'd probably recognized Snotlout as one of the vikings that had kept him trapped back on Berk and thought he was protecting  Dragon's Edge. 

 

“Night Fury…you saved my life?” Snotlout asked tentatively, looking at Toothless, who nodded gamely with a gummy smile.

“Okay,” he took a deep breath. “Hiccup, I think I’m ready to try again.”

 

“You are? Great, just let me- “

 

“No,” Snotlout cut off his cousin. If Hiccup got a cool dragon, he wanted a better dragon. He could prove he was more badass than Hiccup – he could train a dragon that set itself on fire. “I want that one. I’m gonna name him Hookfang.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay; so the thing about Skaga; she's not actually that important, I just wanted the two teams to be balanced? Like, two girls, three boys, and I couldn't add Camikaze to the Berk teens because she didn't really fit, so I made someone up. 
> 
> Also; Snotlout is crazy difficult to keep in character; on the surface he's obnoxious and annoying and arrogant and competitive, but underneath that he's dealing with a shitty dad pressuring him and he does care about others he's just got a weird way of showing it. He just wants to be the best, guys. Also, yeah, he's misogynistic af. The other's are working on beating it out of him though. Mostly Astrid. Definitely Astrid. Sometimes Heather. HC that Skaga is too.


End file.
